ANGELIC OR DEMONIC???

Aubrey 15 months old...

I know I haven't posted in a while (Rylan has been picking up the slack). Plus, we hardly ever post earlier than 2 months apart. However, these needed to be posted by me, since I was the one who witnessed such DIFFERENT aspects of my beloved 4 year-old's PERSONALITY. Please refer to pictures and explanations.

Now, first you might be thinking...'oh, how cute! A sleeping girl in a baby bassinett, with her book about colors'. Let me tell you the rest of the story. Today she has been constantly whining, crying, and uncooperative. Now I get that she is 4, however when it was during nap time she found a sheet of paper that was sentimental to me. Not only was it sentimental, but it was all written in color marker. So, she finds this sentimental paper and then got a sippy cup and filled it with water. Then she poured water all over the paper so she could observe how pink, purple, and blue water would slide off. The colorful water ("magic water" in Aubrey's words) would then stain her clothes, my carpet, side table, and hands. Okay at this point in the day, I have had it! I sent her up to her room for the rest of naptime. While I am working in the office I hear THUMP, BUMP, THUMP! I am concerned that it will wake up Addy, but I don't interrupt because atleast it's in her room and what could she possibley be doing besides jumping off her bed. Well, I had decided that it was time to get her out of her room BUT I can't find her in her room. I look in my room, in my closet, in her closet...I can't find her ANYWHERE. Then I noticed that all of her books that were in her book case were on the floor AND that is when I see her asleep in the baby bassinett. So, I SMILE and grab the camera.
Now, I think she is cute! So who is this girl? Story #2, it is shorter!

It used to be that when I did laundry there were generally 2 piles of laundry. My whites and my colors. I have had more kids, more messes, and now more laundry. On this laundry day while I was folding the first 3 loads of laundry on the couch. My last load of towels were done and I hear the buzzer going off. Aubrey then goes to the laundry room, puts all of the clean, dry towels into the basket and carries it to me in the family room. Now, Aubrey is not a BIG girl and this was not a LITTLE load of laundry. I just thought it was so sweet and helpful. What a darling! She continued to hold that heavy laundry even though I had to run to the car and get the camera.

So, I ask you ANGELIC OR DEMONIC?

I guess that halloween outfit was soooo appropriate. 90% little angel.

Camping

This was our first time camping with both girls. We went with Rhett and Emily and their family. We went to a place called Powell Springs up by Prescott. It was a lot of fun. The girls had a blast, but unfortunately, Aubrey picked up a fever the next day. We can't wait to go camping again.

What would camping be without Oreo's? There are better pictures, but probably too disgusting to put on this blog!

The irony with the picture is what is written on Addy's shirt.
Wow! Addy, your dad must be a looker! Dirt, juice, cookies, crumbs and all!

The kids hanging out in their camping chairs.

Addy helping place rocks around the fire ring.

Aubrey and Louisa sharing a moment together!

Cheese!

Good morning, girls!

The gang hanging out around the campfire.

Fold your arms, raise up young left arm, raise up your right arm! Tickle! Tickle! Tickle!

Chan Clan Reunion

At the end of July/beginning of August we traveled up to Rylan's hometown for a little family reunion. We traveled by Allegiant air which flies out of Phx/Mesa Gateway. It was such a pleasant flight and experience getting right through check-in, security, and boarding. Our flight attendant was a "flight attendant Nazi." Addy was trying to pick up a grape that had fallen on the floor. Just as she was picking up the grape, the flight attendant announced (not so subtlely), "Babies on the floor are a definite no-no!" Now, let me preface this by saying that we were just boarding the plane, we were not moving, not in flight, and not even doing anything of significance. We attempted to explain, but it fell on deaf ears. So the flight attendant then procedes to announce to the ENTIRE cabin, "no kids on the floor - big no-no!!!" Are you freakin' kidding me??? So in case you are wondering what happened to the grapes that Addy picked up - well, they are now back on the ground firmly entrenched into the rug of the plane courtesy of my shoe. Have fun cleaning that up! Other than that, the flight was wonderful. We flew into Great Falls, MT and rented a car and drove up to Canada. It was a 2.5 hr car ride and we just had a great time traveling.

It was great to see the family again! The girls had a wonderful time with cousins and finally, FINALLY being able to play for extended periods of time outside! The temperature was a balmy 70-80 degrees. The kids had fun at a really fun park, went swimming, pretended to be Shamu with Uncle Byron, played at more parks, watched movies, played with cousins, jumped on the trampoline, and swung on the swings -- again, again, and again! The sun set after 9pm and the kids just had a blast playing with cousins. We had a fun time at the reunion that actually spread out over 3 days. It was actually an educational experience learning about my extended family and their histories.

One really interesting thing was the genealogy that my dad had been doing. He contacted someone who had an extensive line of genealogy. We found out that we are actually descendants of the eldest son of Chen Hui who is a descendant of Huang Di - or the Yellow Emperor. Huang Di is often credited with being the individual who instituted the first principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Martial arts!!! So Aubrey and Addy are literally Princesses!

We had a great time, but wish we could have stayed longer. Molly had a great time serving Chinese food at Heritage Days and it was fun tasting food from different cultures. I had African food and the girls had Chinese.

We barely made it back home. There was absolutely NO traffic on the freeway to the border, but once we got there - it was grid-lock! We were starting to get a bit nervous since we were not moving at all and we were still 2 hrs from the airport. Fortunately, it was divine Providence that two more lanes opened up and we got to the front of one of them. Molly prayed that we would make it on time without being pulled over and we flew down the freeway with as much care, but as fast as possible. We made it to the airport with about 10 minutes to spare and made it safely on to our flight. It was good to be heading home, but we sure had a great time.


Here are the cousins with Grammy and Grampy. It's hard getting everyone to cooperate at the same time as you can probably tell.

Addy spending some time with Uncle Mike.

This is actually one of the better pics we have with the kids actually being quite good all together.

Here's our little family!

The cousins with Great Grandma who is turning 90 next year!

Molly giving the thumbs up while serving at Heritage Days.

More cousins (not all) hanging out at Henderson Lake park.

Addy is sad, but still so cute.

Celebrating the birthdays again!

Addy trying to roast her marshmallow.

Addy enjoying her Smore.

Trying to get the best spot for roasting.

Addy playing in the grass.

July Birthdays

OK -

I know it has been a VERY long time since we last updated our blog, so we'll start with July...

We had a busy summer with a couple of birthdays coming at the end of July with Rylan and Aubrey sharing the same lucky day! We had a family gathering with Rhett also sharing their birthday. Since we were leaving for Canada for a reunion, we also had a little party for Addy as well.

Grammy and Papa gather around Addy as she eats her cupcake.

Rylan and Rhett share a banana cream pie for their birthday.

Addy blows out candles on her birthday cupcakes.

Aubrey is super excited about her Tinkerbell birthday cake!

Molly made this wonderful Tinkerbell cake that also has ice cream in the middle. I think she did a wonderful job decorating it complete with Tinkerbell and friends.

These are the beautiful fairy cupcakes that Molly made as well.

Grammy and Papa share some one on one time with Addy and Landon.

The girls got dressed up in their Princess dresses and watched Beauty and the Beast and danced around. It was super cute.

AZ Tea Party

Last month we participated in one of the Arizona Tea Parties. We thought it was a great way to exercise our rights in demonstrating for something for which we believe in. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many people out in support of this cause - including MANY young families in tow. I think in general, we are sort of apathetic, slow-to-react, and passive - and this ground-level movement is evidence that the enough is enough! As a family, we felt strongly enough that we needed to make our opinion heard and raise our voices and do something, rather than sit back and gripe and complain at the television.

Ironically, after the demonstration, we wrote out a couple of nice checks to the IRS for our 2008 taxes. How is that for serendipity?

A couple of days later, Molly was outside watching the girls play. Aubrey was simply walking around the yard saying, "NO MORE TAXES! NO MORE TAXES!" Can someone say young Republican in the making???


Some of my favorite posters from the Tea Party are seen below.

A large crowd gathers at Gilbert City Hall.

Walking up to join in the throng!

This one is my favorite.

My sentiments, exactly!

Even Justice, Aubrey, and Addie have enough of these taxes!!!

Canadian Visitors for Easter Holidays

This past week we had a lot of family in town. John and Judy came down from Canada with Poi-Poi (Grandma). Uncle Vic and Aunt Viv Tang came down from Vancouver to visit as well. They were in town visiting with friends and stayed with all of us for a few days. It was a busy household, but everyone had a great time.

We also feasted like crazy!!! The first night of feasting included some Juk - Chinese porridge with some really tasty BBQ'd chicken breasts. Later in the week, John and Poi-poi cooked a gourmet-class 6-course Chinese meal (Dumplings, spareribs, sushi, chow mein, spiced-pepper salt squid, and the speciality ginger beef - which is now Molly's new favorite Chinese dish of all time!). There was so much food that we had leftovers for the next week. Teresa also had us all over for a gourmet Mexican meal that was just as equally tasty with some incredible dessert. Our last day was spent eating Dim Sum for lunch, followed by a Turkey - Asian style with sticky rice stuffing and a trip to watch the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple grounds.

Since we don't get a chance to see everyone up north very often, this was a nice break. Rylan took a few days off of work. The weather was nice, but a bit breezy. The Canadian crew had a great time up in the Grand Canyon, but somehow missed Frank Lloyd Wright's place up in Sedona. John was pretty bummed out about that. Well, gives them an excuse to come back and visit again.

Well, Rylan's car got dirty...again. Apparently Uncle Vic likes clean looking vehicles, so he took it upon himself to clean the Honda. Aubrey wanted to help. She has become quite the little copy-cat. Since Uncle "Wiffer" (Victor) took his shirt off, Aubrey had remove hers as well, so there was little nude dude Aubrey with her shirt off cleaning the car with bigger nude dude Uncle Wiffer. Thanks for the clean car, guys!

John's high school buddy - Dave Thompson came over for a visit and brought his Wii. "Wii" all had a blast. Never played it before, but had a great time. I can totally see how this game would become somewhat addictive. Here is Aunt Viv trying her best to out-swing her opponent in tennis.

It was also a great opportunity for the girls to spend some time with their Great-Grandmother (But But Ida) who is still sharp as a tack mentally and can still cruise the Grand Canyon in her walker. Hard to believe that she'll be 90 years old next year!

Jim came over to visit one morning and Great Grandma mentioned how her Dad had a 1920-something Ford back in the day and she had a picture of her as a child standing in the bed. We tried to re-enact the photo some 80 years later! She had a blast standing in the bed of the truck!

Aubrey "orange mouth" Chan. She got a kick out of eating oranges this way - thanks to her mom for showing her more silliness with food! :)

It was good to have the girls spend some more one on one time with Grammy and Grampy. Disneyland was kind of hectic and they were off their schedules. Here is Addy eating some oranges on Grammy's lap.

Addy also got some good snuggle time on Grampy.

Aubrey the Tinkerbell Fairy.
Grammy and Grampy took the girls to the "Princess Store" (Disney store) where Aubrey loves to try on wings and look in the mirror. Well, the Grandparents spoiled her and she got her birthday present 4 months early - complete with Tinkerbell outfit and wings! Here she is posing with Aunt Viv and Vic.

This Easter we had an early Easter egg hunt. The girls had fun finding eggs all over the house and then spent some time out in the sand box.

Aubrey gave a talk today in Primary. It was so sweet. She spoke on the Atonement and how the Easter eggs represented a new birth with Christ being resurrected from the tomb. She then said the 3rd Article of Faith from memory and closed by saying, "I love Jesus. He is my Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."